Harry is sitting up and talking to friends and family (Image: Deadline News)

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

A SCHOOLBOY cyclist who suffered a devastating brain injury and a six-inch skull fracture has woken from a coma after just two weeks.

Harry Davies’s recovery has amazed and delighted his family and medics, who say his brain injury was the worst they had ever seen in a child.

The 11-year-old – who was struck by a van as he cycled home on June 3 and landed head-first on the road – is thought to have survived only because he was wearing a cycle helmet.

But Harry woke from his coma on Sunday and is now sitting up, eating and drinking and talking to friends and family.

His recovery was so strong he was able to bypass the high-dependency unit at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh and go straight to a neurology ward.

Harry, from Pencaitland, East Lothian, was with his best friend, 12-year-old Douglas Simpson, who was on foot, when the pair were hit on a road which has no footpath.

Harry hooked up to instruments (Image: Deadline News)

Douglas landed on a soft verge and escaped unharmed.

Harry’s mum and dad, Nick and Lisa, were delighted when their son woke up on Father’s Day.

Lisa, 46, said: “The neurologist said he had not seen this level of trauma in the brain of a child before. Harry’s been quite lucky and he’s a fighter.

“He had a six-inch crack in his skull and he had a fractured cheekbone. But it was the opposite side of the brain that was damaged because of the ricochet effect.

“He is really making progress. He’s talking to people and he recognises his family and friends. He’s sitting up and is able to eat and drink. ”

Lisa paid tribute to the rescue crews who helped her son. And she revealed it was only a week after the accident that they were told that doctors expected him to survive.

Lisa and Nick have both been staying at the hospital’s accommodation for parents.

She said: “The Sick Kids Hospital and family support service have been amazing and I want to thank them.

“The intensive care unit kept Harry alive, mended him and gave him lots of love.”

Janet Biggar, Douglas’s mum, said the road where the boys were hit should be made safer. She added: “The road is national speed limit, despite various attempts over the years to get a lower one. What would be better is having a footpath put in.”

Police said they were continuing to appeal for witnesses over the incident on the B6363 Boggs Holdings road.